Opera-chair



l. HIMES.

OPERA CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED nsc.s0, 1920.

1,382,084. v I PatentedJune 21, 1921.

, I no $122507 UNITED STATES PATENT: OFFICE.

j f rs'IAH HIMEs; or MARSHALTLTOWN; IOWA.

specification of'Letters'Patent. Patented'June 21, 1921.

v y hammered member 30, 19 20. SeriaI IlTo. 434,095.

To (17K whom 't-mcy con-com.-

Be, it known that I, Israrr Hines, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Marshalltown, in the county of Marshall and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Opera-Chair, of which the seat member capable of beingautomatically operated by the weight of the back member.

A still further object is to provide an opera chair having supporting memberscapable of being arranged in rows and rigidly secured in position and when so arranged,

' designed to carry automatically operated seatand back members whichmay' be easily and quickly removed for the purpose of cleaning or repairing without having to disconnect or remove the supporting members.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art which need not be mentioned in detail.

My invention consistsin the constructlon, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing my improved chair; and

Fig. 2 is the rear elevation of my improved chair showing the manner in whicha second chair is placed adjacent thereto when it is desired to arrange them in rows.

Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

My improved chair is especially designed to be used in moving picture houses, theaters and similar places where people are passing in and out during the performance. Moving picture houses are usually quite dark and it is hard for a person entering to see. The side members of chairs as are usually constructed are generally left in a horizontal position which obstructs thepassageway between the rows of seats, and on account of the building being dark a person entering, generally runs into the edge of the seat member. It is, therefore, very desirable that the seat members should allbe elevated. To accomplish this I have" provided a with supporting members 10, which are formed with a base 11,'with an upright back supporting member 12, seat supporting member13 and an arm supporting member 1 1,

the upperendof the back supporting members, being each provided witlrlaterally ex tending pins 15, which are preferably formed integral therewith. The seat supporting .members 13 are provided with similar pins 16. The membersll are secured to the floor ,by means of screws at equal distance apart and parallel to each other, theside members 10 beingv also secured in position by means of a horizontal bar 17, which serves the par post of afoot restv as well as to assist in securing thesnpporting members in pos'i-.

tibn/ The seat membe'rs 18 being ea'chprovided with a casting 19 secured to the bot tomat each sideand at a point between the back and front edges, the said casting- 19 being provided with a groove portion 20,

which is designed to, rest upon the pin 16 whenrplaced in operating position. By this construction means is provided whereby the said seat member 18 may be easily removed from the pin 16 by merely lifting the members 19 from said pins. Members 19 are held against accidental removement by means of cotter pins 21. The back member 22 is pivotally secured to the seat member 18 by means of brackets 23 and pivots 24, the pivots 24: being secured in the member 18, while the brackets 23 are rigidly secured to the-member 22. The bracket 23 is designed to extend forward a considerable distance as shown in Fig.8 for the purpose of permitting a portion of the seat member 18 to fold adjacent to the member 22, or more specifically, to permit the member 18 to assume a nearly vertical position when elevated. The

back member 22 is provided at each upper and side edge with a bracket-25 placed on its back face, this bracket 25 being provided with a longitudinal channeled groove 26 having an outwardly extending groove 27 1 at its lower end, these channels 26 being designed to rest over the end of the pins 15 when the back members 22 are in an operative position. By this construction the back member 22v may be moved upward and downward as the seat member 18 is tilted, the pivot 16 being so located on the support 10, and the bracket 19 located on the member 18 in such a manner that the weight of 'elevated to the ted lines in Fig.

the back member 22 will cause the forward edge of the member 18 to be elevated, and when so elevated, the to portion of the channel 26 will rest on the pins 15. The seat member 18 is designed to rest in a slightly closed position as shown in Fig. 3, when the back member 22 has reached its 'downward limit of movement; this leaves the seat member 18 in such a position that it may be easily moved to. a horizontal position by a slight downward pressure on its upper edge, the back member 22 then being position as shown on dot- It often becomes necessary to remove a seat or back member for the purpose of cleaning or repairing the cushions and this may be easily and quickly accomplished by simply removing the cotter pins 21 and then moving the seat member 18 to its horizontal position which will leave the pins 15 near the slots 27; the member 22 may be then pulled forward which will cause the pins 15 to'pass through the slots 27, and then the back member will be released. The back members 22 may then be elevated and cause the member 19 to disconnect the pins 15 after which the said seat and back members may be removed for cleaning or repairing or they maybe replaced with new ones without disturbing the supporting members 10. The members 14: are provided with arm rests 28 and are of a length substantially equal to a distance between the forward upper edge of the member 18 and the upper end of the supporting member 12 when the said member 18 is in its elevated position. By this construction a considerable distance is provided between the upper edge of member 18 and the back side of the back member of the next seat ahead. By this construction the seat member 18 will always be elevated when not in position and a large aisle provided between each row of seats so that the occupant may easily pass out without interference in case of lire or in a dark room.

I claim as my invention:

In a device of the class described, parallel supporting members provided with arm rests and inwardly extending seat and back pins formed integral, a seat and back member pivotally connected to each other, the said seat member being provided with brackets designed to detachably coact with the said seat supporting pins, the said back member being provided with channel members designed to be slidingly mounted on said back supporting pins, each of the said channel members being provided with a slot through which its coacting pin may be released from the channel when the said pin is in one position of its movement.

Des Moines, Iowa, November 16, 1920.

ISIAH HIMES. 

